Queen’s Speech: MP praises new law to ban legal highs

Amanda Devlin

A new law to ban legal highs could help save youngsters from “spiralling into a world of drugs”.

Iain Stewart MP has praised the blanket ban after a long-standing campaign following last year’s report that use of legal highs in MK was above average.

The new law, announced in the Queen’s Speech today, will prohibit and disrupt the production, distribution, sale and supply of new psychoactive substances.

Ultimately it means the Home Office will not need to ban legal highs one by one.

Mr Stewart said: “I am glad the government has taken this issue seriously enough to put it in the first Queen Speech of the new parliament.”

“This is something I feel very passionate about. It first came to my attention after a meeting with a constituent at one of my surgeries. A young man, a successful A* student spiralled into a world of drugs and addiction through using legal highs. This is a just one of the many cases around the country.”

“I joined other MPs to lobby the government to act on the sale of the drugs and I am delighted we have been able to get the law changed.”

A survey done last year reported one percent of people in the UK were using legal highs as a first drug of choice but in Milton Keynes that figure was significantly higher at six per cent.